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Sediment-yielding process and its mechanisms of slope erosion in wind-water erosion crisscross region of Loess Plateau, Northwest China.

TUO Deng-feng1,2, XU Ming-xiang2,3, ZHENG Shi-qing3, LI Qiang3   

  1. (1College of Forestry, Northwest A & F University, Yangling 712100, Shaanxi, China; 2Institute of Soil and Water Conversation, Northwest A & F University, Yangling 712100, Shaanxi, China; 3State Key Laboratory of Soil Erosion and Dryland Farming on the Loess Plateau, Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Chinese Academy of Sciences and Ministry of Water Resources, Yangling 712100, Shaanxi, China)
  • Online:2012-12-18 Published:2012-12-18

Abstract: Due to the  coupling effects of wind and water erosions in the wind-water erosion crisscross region of Loess Plateau, the slope erosion in the region was quite serious, and the erosion process was quite complicated. By using wind tunnel combined with simulated rainfall, this paper studied the sedimentyielding process and its mechanisms of slope erosion under the effects of wind-water alternate erosion, and quantitatively analyzed the efffects of wind erosion on water erosion and the relationships between wind and water erosions. There was an obvious positive interaction between wind and water erosions. Wind erosion promoted the development of microtopography, and altered the quantitative relationship between the sediment-yielding under water erosion and the variation of rainfall intensity. At the rainfall intensity of 60 and 80 mm·h-1, the sediment-yielding without wind erosion decreased with the duration of rainfall and tended to be stable, but the sediment-yielding with wind erosion decreased to a certain valley value first, and then showed an increasing trend. At the rainfall intensity of 60, 80, and 100 mm·h-1, the sediment-yielding with the wind erosion at speeds of 11 and 14 m·s-1 increased by 7.3%-27.9% and 23.2%-39.0%, respectively, as compared with the sediment-yielding without wind erosion. At the rainfall intensity of 120 and 150 mm·h-1 and in the rainfall duration of 15 minutes, the sediment-yielding with and without wind erosion presented a decreasing trend, but, with the increase of rainfall duration, the sediment-yielding with wind erosion showed a trend of decreasing first and increasing then, as compared with the sediment-yielding without wind erosion. The mechanisms of wind-water alternate erosion were complicated, reflecting in the mutual relation and mutual promotion of wind erosion and water erosion in the aspects of tempora spatial distribution, energy supply, and action mode of erosion forces.